Wrench's How2 Tire Balancing

[WrenchHead]

Hey All;
Well was working on a project this Am and figured it would make a good How2. I know it has been done by others on other forums but just wanted to share my work to help out a bit. So without further ado here we go.
So the first thing you need to do is get all the gear ready to work on a clean work area. I will be using my COWRC.com Screw catcher and Aerosols. I have a Matt Francis Alloy balancer and some modeling clay and lead stickers for my weights. I have a cleaning agent to clean the rims where the weights will go. Also I have some small pieces of leftover decals for my markings. So there we have it, we are ready to get started. This isn't complicated or to time consuming at all but can make a world of difference. If you ever had a car or motorcycle with an out of balance rim and tire you know what I am talking about. You will bounce down the highway and it will annoy the heck out of you. And it could lead to a wobble or shimmy or shake that can be very dangerous. But in the RC world it could toss you rig all over the track or cause it to track crooked down the road. Most people don't bother to do this and I have been guilty as well over the years but once I started doing it I always do it now when I get new wheels or tires. And I will recheck wheels every now and again to make sure they are still balanced. Tires wear down and weights get spit off and this will adversly affect the rigs handling.
Here we have the equipment I am using to accomplish this task.

Here are my new rims and tires for my Slash 2x4. Went with a premounted set of ProLine 2.2/3.0 splitspokes rims and a set of ProLine Calibers in M2 compound rubber. Hobby shop had a sale of $5 off any combo pack. Score!!

I went ahead and marked my rims first before balancing since the rims are different front to rear. And added the compound decals so I won't forget what I got on hand.

I also gathered up some Moootor cleaner to use on the rims for the clay to stick better. If your rim has sand or mud on it be sure to blow that off and then clean the insides of the rims.



Now I want to find the heavy spot of the rim so get your axel rod nice and snug and give you rim and tire combo a spin and let it roll. This is called static balancing and it will always seek out the heaviest spot and it will fall to the bottom.You then counter weight the heavy sopt with just enough weight so there is no more fall at all. Then your rim is balanced and time to move onto the next one. Here I marked the rim at 4 equal parts for reffrence. Think of it as the hands on a clock. 12 oclock, 3 oclock, 6 oclock and lastly 9 oclock. This ensures the rim is balance at all 4 pionts. Here I spun the wheel to seek out the heavy spot.



Once the heavy spot has been found spin it again just to be sure all is right. Then mark that spot.

Now start adding your weight and check for a fall at all 4 pionts on the clock. 12/3/6/9 If you have no fall at all you are spot on. Or add some weight or remove some weight depending on the speed of the fall or rise.




Now i squish my clay weight down and get it to stick nice and good to the rim. As a precaution I add a small strip of clear thin packing tape just in case the clay feels like coming off when slamming down off a jump or in a rollover.




Well that about does it, all you need to do is repeat this for all 4 rims and tires as well as all the rims and tires in your RC collection. Except your crawlers since they usually don't get spun up fast enough for balance to matter. Except in the case of a Rock Racer rigs.lol Well I hope this helps out a bit. Now everone run out and balance your rims and tires.l8r,wrench.